Day 10 Sunday March 8th Hammerfest, Aurora and Tromso



Polar bears in Hammerfest

The day as usual started brightly 

snowy Hammerfest church

and after breakfasting we had some time to blog, knit and relax.  Our first port of call today was Hammerfest at 1045 which was still well in the Arctic Circle.  We were docking for 2 hours so we decided to tog up and go for an explore.  We had a town map and decided our first venue would be the church which looked by far the 

Hammerfest church window

most attractive building.  The roads and pavements were very slippery and we had decided 

Hammerfest church organ etc

not to use the crampons we had because we had not needed them previously and this proved to be a mistake.  We slowly and carefully made our way up the hill to the church and because we did not have 

Hammerfest wall mural

crampons were allowed to enter.  The stained glass windows and the whole interior made the atmosphere 

monument to arctic exploring

very peaceful.  We were soon out onto the slippery pavements as the church was obviously preparing for a service.  We walked along the High Street where some of the pavements were clear and admired some of 

At Hammerfest

the goods in the shops.  At the end of the shops was a bridge which went over a waterway which connected two parts of the sea but it was covered with snow and water was only 

view of Hammerfest

flowing under this.  It was time to gradually make our way back to the boat.




Oksfjord church

We lunched, relaxed for a time before calling at 1530 into the next attractive little harbour at Oksfjord.  We passed a glacier on the way in. There was a

Eider ducks at Oksfjord

beautiful little church but we did not have time to get off and view.   After 15 minutes we were off again and we spotted some eider 

Oksfjord glacier

ducks bobbing in the harbour.  As usual one cannot get bored by it the scenery of the fjord as it was marvellous and the sky looked beautiful as we were leaving it.  We made our

The end of Oksfjord

way out between islands, we had a cup of tea and read for a while before dinner.









Faint Aurora

Dinner at 1830 included a 

Aurora

variation using Pollock which was not especially exciting for us but we ate it.  A folk band had joined the ship at Hammerfest and at 2100 we listened to a short gig from them which was in English but not too accomplished.  We 

Aurora Borealis

returned to our cabin and were soon told that the

More of the Aurora

aurora had been seen on the starboard side .  We quickly dressed in warm gear and went out.  At first there was not a lot of colour but soon we saw quite a display.  The important thing was to see it but I also manged to get some photos of indifferent quality to remember it all.  We stayed for some time as the colours came and went and eventually decided we had seen the best.  We returned to the cabin for cup of coffee.




Tromso Cathedral

We had booked to go to a

Concert performers

midnight concert at Tromso cathedral which was our next port of call.  We got our warm gear on again and were ready to board the bus at 1145.  We made our way through a very snowy and icy city and reached the cathedral a little late but the concert hadn't started as all the audience were from the boat.  It was a beautiful concert in a wonderful setting and we were pleased we went.  The only downside was that around the cathedral the paths were very icy and slippery.  We took it very slowly and carefully.  We were back on board at about 0120 and the boat soon sailed.

An eventful day in which we were pleased to see the Northern Lights.